Automatic crate loading machine



July 7, 1953 E. H. BRITT -AUTOIIATIC CRATE LOADING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 16, 1947 Inge-#1 Edwin H Britt July 7, 1953 E. H. BRlTT 2,644,625

AUTOMATIC CRATE LOADING MACHINE Filed April 16, 1947 4 SheetsASheet 2 Fig.2.

'7 Inventor Edwin H. Briff July 7, 1953 H. BRn-r 2,644,625 AUTOMATIC CRATE emme MACHINE Filed April 16, 1947 4 Sheets- Sheet 5 Fig. 3 42 s 45 Inventor Edwin H. Briff (Waxy 3m July 7, 1953 E. H. BRrrr 7 2,644,625

AUTOMATIC CRATE LOADING MACHINE Filed April 16, 1947- I 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 I I I Inventor Patented July 7, 1953 Q 1 ildivinilli Britt, Raleigh, N. 0., assignor, by mesne: assignments; to: Harris Foundry and Machine.

i Comp ny I Geor i Gordele, Ga'., a corporation. of

- Application April 1 1947; SerialN'o. 741,788

This invention relates to improvements'iizr automatic crate loading machines; :1 An" object of the invention isztoiprovide, an improved automatic crate 'or case'zl'oading max-1 chine which .will. automatically; Efeed: empty bote tle crates or cases'under a-i-series of bottle guide Glaimsi: (01. 226-14) 2 In the accompanying. drawings which form a part of this application,

Figure 1 isa plan view of the improved auto I matic bottle crate. crease-loading machine;

chutes or slots) inn-synchronized; step-by-step manner while filled. beverage; bottles are; fed along. an endless. conveyor.- ahove:.-said1 crates. or cases for intermittently .operating a. :trigger mechanism for actuating-a clutch. which: will operate a. bottle ,;carrier ,.ecau'sing.the. same; to: move a numberz'of-eibottlen positioned. therein from said: conveyor; to slide 1 down said; bottle guide chute or slots intocthe crataor-tcasedis-. posed therebelow, afteriwhich the bottlecarrier willibe retracted to. its original position and the crate or case will. be moved. torwardly- .to:-.p'ermit: the. filling of the next unfilledwrowof; pocketsupon the following operation tors. cyclesofl opera.-' tion. of said machine.

Another object. of :the invention provide; I

an. improved automatic crate or.-- .caseeloadings machine which wil-lbe operatedibyia suitable electric motor or :motors to: automaticallyufeed empty bottle cases-along a trackwaynbelowa .a. transvr-irsely. disposed-endless conveyor .whictrwi'll. move filled beverage-bottles tora. point adjacent a series-of bottle guidefchutes or; slotszoverlyings said cases, said: bottlegentering: a bottle: carrier. and whenfilled, the bottles. will tripatri'ggerrfbr; operating a clutch 'for'causi'ng the .bottle. carriera tonmove thebottles receivedtherein fromwthe;

endlessficonvey'or to drop down said bottle'g-guidei chutesor slotsinto a case momentarily held'moltionless tl'i'ereloelo-w, after which. the-bottlecan. rier will lac-retracted to its original positioniand; a crate or case engaging pawl. or pulling-Imember:v will pull the cases forwardly while a casepush ingmember will advance: the. case'being filled to the proper position forfilling the nextrows-of pockets or compartments when-the next cycle. of. operation is. accomplished, and. means being. provided for preventing retrograde movements-of; said cases after-being:moved or advancedlalon their supporting trackway while bei'ng filledrae =If A further object of the. inventionis to provide an improved; automatically. operated;crateor case-loading machine :which. will :zpositivelyi and. efiiciently loa'd'filled beverage bottles into-cases. asthe same. are fed to and throughthe machine; and said machine being relativelyinexpensive to manufactureand produceif If v Other objects will: appear as the description proceeds, j 1

Figure 2 is. a. side. elevation of the improved automatic bottle crate or case-loading. machine;

Figure 3. is a sectional view taken on. the line 31-32 of Figure. 2;. w 5

Figure 4' is. an. end. elevation of the improved automatic crate or caster-loading machine; Figure 5 lSI a'iperspective viewjof. one endof the endless conveyor for the: beverage-bottles ,show=, ing the bottle carrier and interconnected crateorwcase-advancing; pawl' ormember with the clutch and crank operating: mechanismtherefor;

Figure 6 is aperspective-view of one end of the endless: conveyor for the beverage bottlesshowing the bottle-actuated trigg r and clutch mech Y anism associated therewith; and.

Figure 7 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional I view through the clutch mechanism.

Like characters of 1 reference are used through-. outthe following specification and the accompanying drawings todesignate corresponding parts.

Incarrying out the-invention, there is provided.

an improved automatic crate. or case-loading machine including an' upwardly inclined. frame generally designated. by the reference numeral- 1 including the U-shaped side frame rails or tracks-land- 3. which are supported upon. the longitudinally spaced; inverted U-shaped legs 4- and. 5: also; formed of-channel members bent inwardly attheir lower. extremitiesto form the supporting feet 6; and 1. i .Aplurality of transversely extending spaced shafts 8- are rotatably mountecl between the. side form individual pocketsjfor the bottles l2:.l

zsidepguide' rails mend-.14: will be. disposed above: and at the. opposite sides; of the sidesframie rails or tracks 2: and. 33., and will beoppositely flared at theiriienjd's for facilitating the placing of empty, cratesa or casesin position at the lower or entrance end of themachine.

. Upward'ly'extending spaced supportingxmemhers t5; and [6 having outwardlybent upper ends will be secured. to: the side frame rails; or tracksl: and; Stand will support the side frame sjiupper or discharge-end; Partitions H w-il be disposed in: the bottle: crates or cases In to members I l and I B of the transversely extending endless conveyor generally designated by thereference numeral l9. Oppositely disposed guide rails 29 and 2| will be disposed above the endless conveyor E9 to prevent the beverage bottles I2 from falling from the sectional conveyor belt 22 which is mountedupon therollers 23 and 24, which, in turn, are mounted on the cross shafts 25 and 26 in the bearings 21 and 28 disposed at the opposite ends of said endless conveyor l9. 7

A sprocket wheel 29 is secured to the end of the shaft 26 at the inner end of the endless conveyor I9 and is connected by means of the chains 30 with the sprocket wheel 31 mounted upon the shaft 32 of an electric motor 33 which is supported upon the bracket 34 attached to the upwardly extending spaced supporting members I6, for driving the endless conveyor, l9.

A series of downwardly angled bottle guide chutes or slots 35 are positioned laterally of the conveyor belt 22, with'their upper ends approximately flush with and on they same level as, the

upper run of the conveyor 22, for guiding the groups of bottles l2 into the pockets formed by the partitions II in the cases H] when disposed immediately below said guide chutes or slots.

' Upwardly and inwardly extending supporting frame members 36 and 31 are supported by the side frame rails or tracks 2 and 3, and have the bearings 38 and 39 attached thereto for rotatably supporting the aligned shafts 4a and M respectively.

An electric motor 42 is mounted upon the bracket 43 and supports a pulley 54 upon its shaft 45. A belt 46 is disposed over the pulley 44 at its lower end, and has its upper end disposed over the large pulley wheel 41 secured upon the outer end of the shaft 46.

A clutch mechanism is provided and comprises a clutch disk head 48 secured tothe inner end of the shaft 46 which extends through the same and slightly beyond, and a pair of oppositely disposed, round bores or sockets 49 and 53 ar formed in the inner surface thereof.

The inner end of the shaft 4;! is connected to one side of a crank whose'other side-is connected to the centrally disposed shaft 52, on the opposite end of which the other-clutch disk head 53 will be loosely mounted. An axial'bore 54 is provided in the outer end of the head 53i for receiving the adjacent end of the shaft '56, whilea longitudinally extending offset bore 55 is formed in the head 53, havingan opening 56' extending from its outer end'to the outer end of said head 53. A slot 57 is formed through the side wall of the head 53 communicating with the bore 55, and the clutchpin 58 is disposed in said bore 55 having one end extending through the opening 56 for beingreceived in either of'the bores or sockets 49 or 56 when the heads 48 and 53 are clutched together. A laterally extending slidable stop pin 59 is secured to the clutch pin 58, and extends through the slot 51,"while 'acoil projecting spring 60 will be disposed in said bore 55 about the clutch pin 58 for normally and -.re-

siliently projecting the same through theopen 7 bottle carrier, generally designatedby the ref-rv erence numeral 66, is secured. The bottle carrier 66 includes an end 61, parallel spaced opposite side members 68 and 69, and an upwardly extending inverted U-shaped brace member 10. The inner ends of the push rods 64 and 65 are secured to one side of the pusher plate I I, while an arm 12 is connected to the opposite side of said plate ll. Oppositely disposed nuts 73 and 14 are provided on the rods'64 and 65 and on the arm 12 for making adjustment when necessary or desirable. At the free end of the side 69 of the bottle carrier a rearwardly extending gate 20I is provided and is of such length that it extends transversely across the conveyor 22 when the carrier is in advanced position. With the carrier in the advanced position from which bottles are dropped into the chutes, the gate '26! will be in position to block further movement of bottles with the conveyor 22 until the carrier has been returned to the position of Fig. l where fork 16 on theconnecting rod 11, while the opposite end of said rod 77 is pivotally supported upon the pin 18 between the arms of the crank 5 I.

A rod 19 will be also supported upon one endof the pin 15, and will extend upwardly and rear-, wardly therefrom to be connected by the pin to the upper end of the rocker. shaft or arm 8| pivoted adjacent its central portion upon the pin 82 on the forwardly extending supporting arm 83 attached to the frame member 36.

Forwardly and rearwardly extending rods 84 and are pivoted uponthe pin 86 at the bottom or lower end of the rocker arm 8|, said rear arm supporting the crate or case pulling pawl member 8! which is formed with the oppositely disposed spaced crate engaging notches 88 and teeth 89 in its lower edges.

The forwardly extending rod 84 is adjustably attached to the spaced cross members, 96. and 9| of the crate-advancing frame, being provided with oppositely disposed nuts'92 and 93 for adjustin'g the frame for-variations in'crate or case sizes orfor adjusting the push or throw of the crate-engaging arms 94 and which are supported by said cross members 96 and 9| to extend forwardly thereof.. The range of movement of the r'od-84 is at least as great as the fore and aft dimensions of the pockets in the largest crates to be used with this machine. In many instances it is desirable to load bottles in crates having somewhat smaller dimensions. .In such an event, the nuts 92 andv 93 may be adjusted along the rod 84 to provide a substantialspace' therebetween and efiecting a lost motion connection between the rod 84 and the cross member 9| of the crate advancing frame. By such an adjustment it will beapparent that the crate engaging arms or pawls 94 and 95 will not be actuated in crate-moving motion through the entire stroke of the rod 84. By this means the effective stroke of the crate engagingpawls may be adjusted to any desired value equal to or less than the stroke of the rodv 8G. a

A safety check rod 96 is pivoted at 91 to the frame member 31, and'is' adapted to drop by gravity into the cases.l'0,ito engage the partitions H after the cases have been advanced to hold the same from any retrograde or backward movement while the bottles are being deposited in the pockets in said crates or cases.

An L-shaped trigger bar 98 is provided with an offset end 99 adapted to overlie the endless conveyor belt: 22, .to be engaged bythe bottles .112; when the desired number ofbottlesahave: entered the. bottle .carrier, and; is'pivoted upon the pin till) in the forward end. of the. supportingarni 83a The; opposite. end of. the triggeribarzfifl .is bent upwardly and. provided with the: fork. flit whichv extends about theiclutclr operatingr Iii-2 between the. stops Ill-3;. and [Ma Aston. or limiting sleeve tilt. is; supported by" thefrazme: member [.98 secured tothe framemembendlt, and: is. oppositely, slotted at. tfii'hto receive the cross; pin 1'93 supported by. the? clutch. operating; rod. i102. The cross'pin lallazis; effective to, prevent rotation of the. .rod' 102., and cam,,li;&-. about the axis. of the said rod 1112 l'llsiusinsnring,v proper orientation of the cam. lil9,at. .all-times1.,; A; 11611:; sion. spring 29% isattached tolthe-triggerybar, 98; adjacent its front: end; and to the.;frame.0f;.the: machine in the manner shown. in Fig... 1; After; the trigger has been tripped-by bottles: l2 onthe conveyor 22; and the bottles pushedfr'om the: con:- veyor into the chutes. the spring, 2:!10willcause, return of they trigger, barv 9.8 to repositier-i the; cam I99 within the path of circumferential;

movement of. the element 59 of the clutch, thus of the driven shaft the end of the clutch operating rod I92 and is provided with an arcuate cam surface H0 adapted to beengagedby the pin 59 in the clutch head or member 53 for disengaging the clutch heretofore described. The; mechanism thus-described and including the clutchparts 4 8. and,5 3 and the rod F32" and' cam Hi9" constitute; one modification of what is'commonly known-asa one-revolution clutch mechanism since momentary withdrawal of the cam permits rotation of the driven part 53 only until the pin 58 is retracted at the completion of a single revolution.

The mode of operation of the improved auto matic crate or case-loading machine will now be described. Assuming that the electric motors 33 and 42 are connected with a suitable source of electric current supply (not shown), and that the bottles l2 are being fed to the endless conveyor l9, and crates or cases [9 are being fed to the lower end of the side frame rails or tracks 2 and 3 upon the rollers 9, and the clutch heads or members 48 and 53 are de-clutched. When the desired number of bottles i2, preferably six, enter the bottle carrier, the first bottle to enter will be forced into engagement with the trigger arm 99 disposed over the endless conveyor track 22, causing the same to rotate on its pivot Hill. This action will pull the clutch actuating cam H19 away from the pin 59 which held the clutch head 53 de-clutched from the constantly rotating clutch head 48 which is driven directly by the electric motor 42, permitting the crank to make one complete revolution.

In making one rotation, the bottle carrier will be pushed forwardly to slide the bottles l2 from the conveyor belt 22 into the bottle guide chutes or slots 35 where they will drop into the pockets in a crate l9 disposed upon the'side frame rails or tracks 2 and 3, at the same time moving the crate pulling pawl or member 81 rearwardly to secure a hold further back upon the crate In at the entrance to the rails or tracks 2 and 3. At the same time gate 2ill will be moved to block further advance of bottles along conveyor 22 while the carrier is 'in its advanced position.

Simultaneously the crate-engaging and advancing arms 94 and 95 will be retracted ready to push: the crates being; loaded. to the. proper-:1 pDSi-v tion to fill. the next: row of pocketsiwhiclr action will occur-assoon as: the. bottlesrhaver;been droppedi into.v the crate .110. The';b.()tl71i3 :carrier will: then be: retracted; and due to; springimli thetrigger arm will be returned to its normalvpositi'on and cam Iili9iwilhhe1repositioned to disengage: the. clutch. after one complete-revolution. allof these operations taking place: during. the timethe. crank .51: is. making. one-.complete.ro-.

tation, thuscom-pletingxth-e cycle: of operation.

The bottles t2: will: again advancerintozthebote, tle carrier since gate. 21911. wililhavebednagain retracted.- and: the: same-procedure will I be iree peatedz as long as .bottles and. crates are. fed to. the machine, and the machineis kept. running.

Fromthe foregoing description, it will: bezap parent: thatxthere has. been; devised and provided. a highly: efficient form of. automatic crate-1oafl'.-- ing machine which isvrelatively-inexpensivertn manufacture and produce. While the preferred embodiment. of theinstant invention has been-illustrated-cand described; wilt be understood that. it is noirintended to: limit: the scopeof the. inventiorrrthereto;zas -many' minor changes. detail: of: construction maybe. resorted; to without: departure fronrthe'. spirit: or: theinventfon'. 1: 1

Having. thus described my: invention,..what I.

Patentof the United States is:

1a. In a crate loading: machine, a convey-or for moving articles to a loadingzstationhcrate: a vancingmeans to move empty cratesto. saidrloade ing station in: position to. receivearticl'esfrom said. conveyor, reciprocable means movable transversely across said conveyorat saidiloading: station to move articlesfromsaid: conveyor to a crate, an oscillatablelever pivoted-intermediate. its ends, one end of said lever overlying said conveyor at said loadingstation to be engaged and moved by an article thereon, driving means for said reciprocable means, said driving means ineluding a normally disengaged one-revolution clutch mechanism, the other end ofsaid lever being connected to said clutch whereby actuation of said lever by an article on said conveyor will effect a single cycle of operation of said reciprocable means.

2. In a crate loading machine, means for effecting transfer of articles from a source of sup ply to a crate, driving means therefor, said driving means including a one-revolution clutch comprising; a rotatable driving member, an eccentrically positioned axially extending opening in an end face of said member, a rotatable driven member axially aligned with said driving member, an eccentrically located axially movable pin on said driven member, said pin being movable into position to enter said opening, spring means urging said pin toward said driving member, a radial projection on said pin, and cam means radially movable into the circumferential path of movement of said projection whereby to move said pin away from said driving member to disconnect said driven member from said driving member. v

3. In a crate loading machine, means for supplying articles to a loading station and for placing said articles in a crate, mean-s for'moving empty crates along a fixed path to predetermined positions at said loading station,said crate moving means comprising; an oscillatable lever, one end of said lever being swingable in the direction of movement of said crates, a pair of linkspiv- 1 oted to the said one end of said lever and extending in opposite directions therefromalone said path, said links being of such length that their ends overlie difierent crates, and crate engaging means carried by each link adjacent its free end. i I

4. In a crate loading machine, a conveyor for moving articles to a loading station, reciprocable means movable transversely across said conveyor at said'loading station to move articles "from said conveyor to a crate, an oscillatable lever pivoted intermediate its ends, one endv of said lever overlying said conveyor at said loading station to be engaged and moved by an article thereon, driving means for said reciprocable means, said driving means including a one-revolution clutch mechanism having an element normally in position to keep said clutch disengaged, the other end of said lever being connected to said element whereby actuation of said lever by an article on said conveyor will effect Withdrawal of said element to initiate a single cycle of operation of said reciprocable means. i y

5. In a crate loading machine, means for advancing articles along a fixed path to a loading station, reciprocable means movable. transversely of said path at said loadingstation'temove articles therefrom to a crate, cyclically operable driving means for said reciprocable means, a pivoted lever having an end portion extending across said path to be engaged and moved by an article, a uni-cyclic control element for said driving means, said lever. being connected to said control element whereby actuation of said-lever byan article will cause said drivingmeans to .drive said reciprocable means through a. single cycle of reciprocation.

6. In a crate loading machine, a conveyor for frictionally engaging and moving articles to. a

, being connected to said control element and arranged to control operation of said driving means to initiate a cycle of operation thereof, said lever being yieldably resistant to. actuation by articles on said conveyor until a predetermined number ,of abutting articles are stopped by said lever whereby the frictional engagementbetween said conveyor and said predetermined number of articles' will be'sufficient to cause actuation of said lever and initiate a cycle of operation of said reciprocable means.

Matias caee in the file of this patent, UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date R-e.21,288 Novotny Dec. 5, 1939.

1,090,855 Jagenberg Mar. 24, 1914 1,896,639 Meyer et al. .4 Feb. 7, 1933' 2,067,301 Miller, Sr. Jan. 12, 1937 2,236,945 Gibbs Apr. 1, 1941 2,318,598 Davis May 11, 1943 2,331,018 vFedorchalcet al. Oct..5, 1943 EDWIN H. BRITT,

I Sandberg Jan...20, 1948 

